l'

See also: ľ and Appendix:Variations of "l"

Asturian

Etymology 1

Contraction of the masculine article el.

Article

l' m

1. (definite) the

Usage notes

• The masculine singular article el contracts to l' before a word beginning with a vowel or h: l'asturianu (the Asturian), l'hermanu (the brother)

Related terms

• el
• 'l

Etymology 2

Contraction of the feminine article la.

Article

l' f

1. (definite) the

Usage notes

• The feminine singular article la contracts to l' before a word beginning with a or ha: l'asturiana (the Asturian), l'habitación (the habitation)

Related terms

• la

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [l‿]

Article

l' m or f

1. Contraction of el: the
2. Contraction of la: the

Usage notes

• el is contracted to l' before a vowel or h-.

  l'avi ― the grandfather

• la is contracted to l' before a vowel or h-, except before a following unstressed (h)i- or (h)u-.

  l'àvia ― the grandmother

  l'hora ― the hour

  l'única filla (stressed ⟨u⟩) ― the only daughter

  la ullada (unstressed ⟨u⟩) ― the glance

Pronoun

l'

1. Contraction of el.
2. Contraction of la.

Usage notes

• l' is the elided (elida) form of the pronoun. It is used before verbs beginning with a vowel. The exceptions regarding the contraction of la mentioned above apply as well.

  L'envejo. ― I envy him/her.

  La interessa. (unstressed ⟨i⟩) ― It interests her.

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

			strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
				proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
singular	1st person	standard	jo, mi3	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
		majestic1	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
	2nd person	standard	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
		formal1	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
		very formal2	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
	3rd person	m	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
		f	ella	la, l’4	-la	li	-li	seu
		n		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
plural
	1st person		nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
	2nd person	standard	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
		formal2	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
	3rd person	m	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
		f	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive			si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
adverbial	ablative/genitive			en, n’	-ne, ’n
	locative			hi	-hi

¹ Behaves grammatically as plural.   ² Behaves grammatically as third person.
³ Only as object of a preposition.   ⁴ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

Corsican

Article

l'

1. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of u, lu: the
2. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of a, la: the
3. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of i, li: the
4. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of e, le: the

Pronoun

l'

1. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of u, lu: him
2. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of a, la: her
3. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of i, li: them
4. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of e, le: them

See also

Corsican personal pronouns

			nominative	dative	accusative	disjunctive
singular	1st person		eiu	mi		mè
	2nd person		tù	ti		tè
	3rd person	m	ellu	li	u, l'	ellu
		f	ella		a, l'	ella
plural	1st person		noi	ci		noi
	2nd person		voi	vi		voi
	3rd person	m	elli	li	i, l'	elli
		f	elle		e, l'	elle

References

• https://infcor.adecec.net/

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l/

Article

l' (definite)

1. (poetic) Apocopic form of la: the

Usage notes

It is used mainly in poetry and lyrics as a tool for enforcing a specific meter or rhythm, although it may at times be used in prose for a poetic stylistic effect.

A space is used after l' (e.g. "de l' mondo", not "de l'mondo"). It is most common after prepositions ending in a vowel, de l' (“of the”) being most common by far.

When possible it is pronounced at the end of the proceeding syllable rather than at the start of the following syllable (e.g. de l' animo (“of the soul”) is pronounced /del aˈni.mo/ rather than /de laˈni.mo/).

Frequent or consistent use of l' can be found as a feature of the ideolects of some people, but this is considered non-standard, and is discouraged by the majority of fluent speakers.

Derived terms

• ĉe l' (“at the”)
• de l' (“of the”)
• je l'
• pri l' (“about the”)
• pro l' (“because of the”)
• tra l' (“through the”)

Franco-Provençal

Determiner

l' m or f

1. Prevocalic clipping of la
2. Prevocalic clipping of lo

Pronoun

l' m or f

1. Prevocalic clipping of la
2. Prevocalic clipping of lo

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l‿/

  • Audio:

    (file)

Article

l’ m or f (singular, definite)

1. (before a vowel or mute h) Apocopic form of le, la: the
2. (Quebec, Louisiana, colloquial, after a vowel) Apocopic form of le: the
   • 2002, Jean-François Pauzé, “La Manifestation”, in Break Syndical:

     À la manifestation, / on rêvait d’révolution / se gelant l’cul avec une poignée de comparses / sous la pluie froide du mois d’mars

     At the demonstration, / we dreamed o' revolution / freezing da asses off with a handful of cronies / in the cold rain of March

Pronoun

l’ m or f (third-person singular)

1. (before a vowel or mute h) Apocopic form of le, la: him, her, it
2. (Quebec, Louisiana, colloquial, after a vowel) Apocopic form of le: him, it
   • 2002, Jean-François Pauzé, Marie-Annick Lépine, “Toune d'automne”, in Break Syndical:

     Icitte y’a papa qui se r’met / fe sa p’tite opération / t’aurais du l’voir, y fakait / fallait l’traiter aux p’tits oignons

     Here's Dad recoverin' / doin' his lil operation / you shoulda seen him, he was doin' it / you hadda treat him like a pro

Related terms

French personal pronouns

number	person	gender	nominative (subject)	accusative (direct complement)	dative (indirect complement)	locative (at)	genitive (of)	disjunctive (tonic)
singular	first	—	je, j’	me, m’		—	—	moi
	second	—	tu	te, t’		—	—	toi
	third	masculine	il	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui
		feminine	elle	la, l’				elle
		indeterminate	on1	—	—	—	—	—
		reflexive4	—	se, s’		—	—	soi
plural	first	—	nous	nous		—	—	nous
	second2	—	vous	vous		—	—	vous
	third	masculine	ils3	les	leur	y	en	eux3
		feminine	elles					elles

¹ On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms).
² Vous is also used as the polite singular form.
³ Ils and eux are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.
⁴ These forms are also used as third person plural reflexive.

Further reading

• “l'”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Friulian

Article

l' m or f (definite)

1. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of il, la: the

Inflection

Friulian definite articles

	singular	plural
masculine	il l'	i
feminine	la l'	lis

Haitian Creole

Etymology

Contration of li, from French lui.

Pronoun

l'

1. Alternative spelling of l; contraction of li.

Ido

Article

l'

1. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of la: the

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l/

Article

l' m or f (apocopated) (definite)

1. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of il/lo, la: the

Inflection

Italian definite articles

	singular	plural
masculine	il lo (l')	i gli
feminine	la (l')	le

Pronoun

l' m or f (apocopated)

1. (before vowels) Apocopic form of lo, la: him, her, it

Usage notes

• Optionally elides before a vowel, especially before ho and ha: l'ho, l'ha. Elision before other verbs beginning with a stressed vowel is less common: lo era instead of l'era, lo è instead of l'è.

See also

Italian personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Reflexive	Accusative	Dative	Combined	Disjunctive	Locative	Partitive
Singular	first	—	io	mi, m', -mi			me	me	—
	second	—	tu	ti, t', -ti			te	te
	third	m	lui	si2, s', -si	lo, l', -lo	gli, -gli	glie, se2	lui, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
		f	lei, Lei1		la, La1, l', L'1, -la, -La1	le3, Le1, -le3, -Le1		lei, Lei1, sé
Plural	first	—	noi	ci, c', -ci			ce	noi	—
	second	—	voi, Voi4	vi, Vi4, v', V'4, -vi, -Vi4			ve	voi, Voi4
	third	m	loro, Loro1	si, s', -si	li, Li1, -li, -Li1	gli, -gli, loro (formal), Loro1	glie, se	loro, Loro1, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
		f			le, Le1, -le, -Le1
1	Third person pronominal forms used as formal terms of address to refer to second person subjects (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
2	Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
3	Often replaced by gli, -gli in informal language.
4	Formal (capitalisation optional); in many regions, can refer to just one person (compare with French vous).

Ladin

Article

l' f (singular)

1. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of la: the

See also

• l
• la
• i
• les

Leonese

Etymology 1

Contraction of the masculine article el.

Article

l' m sg

1. Apocopic form of el: the

Usage notes

• The masculine singular article el contracts to l' before a word beginning with a vowel or h.

Etymology 2

Contraction of the feminine article la.

Article

l' f sg

1. Apocopic form of la: the

Usage notes

• The feminine singular article la contracts to l' before a word beginning with a or ha.

Ligurian

Article

l' m sg (definite)

1. (before a vowel) the (+ a masculine name in the singular)

Middle French

Article

l'

1. elided form of le, la: the

Usage notes

• Earlier manuscripts omit the apostrophe
• lame ― the soul

Neapolitan

Etymology

From Latin ille, illa.

Particle

l' m and f (singular and plural definite)

1. (before a vowel) Apocopic form of 'o, 'a: the

Old French

Article

l'

1. (before a vowel sound) Apocopic form of la/le: the

Usage notes

• Original manuscripts omit the apostrophe
• lame ― the soul

Romagnol

Alternative forms

• e' before a consonant

Article

l' m (before a vowel)

1. the

Sassarese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l‿/, (after a word ending in a vowel) /r‿/

Article

l'

1. Apocopic form of lu
2. Apocopic form of la
3. Apocopic form of li

Inflection

Sassarese definite articles

	singular	plural
masculine	lu (l')	li (l')
feminine	la (l')

Pronoun

l'

1. Apocopic form of lu
2. Apocopic form of la
3. Apocopic form of li

Usage notes

• Used before a vowel sound.